AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Every head in the room turns in my direction, and Delilah’s eyes light up.
“Aunt Cat! Thank God you’re here. Switch!” she says as she sidles up to me and holds Dara out. It’s at that moment that I realize the smell is her baby sister—the child she’s about to hand me. I pull Daphne back to my chest and hold on tight. After the day I’ve had, the last thing I’m doing is changing a shitty diaper.
Delilah’s eyes narrow as we square off. For an eleven-year-old, she’s surprisingly good at the resting bitch face.
Across the room, Sophie blows out a breath like she’s fighting back tears. Immediately, I regret being a brat and snag Dara from Delilah. “I got this, Soph,” I say with a child on each hip. “Go take a shower.”
Dexter saunters over to me, his eyes bright and his perma-smile in place. The man always looks like he hit the jackpot. And he truly did. He married the greatest woman I know and has four beautiful children. He hated every minute they were apart while we were in Paris for our internship, so he showed up unannounced and proposed to Sophie. They were married three months later, and she was pregnant almost immediately. The first year with Delilah and Chloe at the office still feels like a dream. One that I’m grateful we got to live together, because without these people, I’d have been a wreck. Sadly, no one but Cynthia, Dexter, and Sophie knows that Chloe is my daughter.
I never confided in my family. I hid the pregnancy, stayed in Paris, gave birth, and then gave her up.
To the world, Chloe is Cynthia’s adopted daughter. And since it was a well-known fact that I worshipped the ground Cynthia walked on, no one batted an eye about how much time I spent with her.
With a shake of my head, I clear my mind of the memories and focus on the present. The really loud present.
“How about I change Dara? You can hang with Del, Declan, and Daphne while Soph showers. Dinner in twenty?”
This man is damn near perfect. I want to throw my arms around him and sob. After today, I’m so damn glad that I have my people.
Sophie takes one look in my direction and shakes her head. “Change of plans. Del, watch your sister and brother. Babe, take care of the baby. Cat and I have some drinking to do.”
God bless my best friend. She grabs a bottle of wine and two glasses and tilts her head, silently motioning for me to follow her. I hand the kids off, and Dexter leans in to plop a kiss on my cheek.
“Take your time,” he says in that soothing tone of his. He’s now full-on gray and has beautiful laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. My friends did good. They are the one and only example of true love in my life. Just watching them reminds me that not everyone has to suffer through the kind of heartache I was unlucky enough to experience.
When I enter Sophie’s bedroom, she’s stripping off her clothes. There’s no modesty left between us. I was witness to each of her children’s births. I’ve seen everything there is to see of this woman. “Wine’s over there,” she says, pointing to her nightstand.
I grab for it and take a sip before I’ve spoken a single word to her. Once the shower in the bathroom turns on, I take the opportunity to check my phone again.
Still no response from Cynthia.Where the hell is she?
“You going to bring me a glass of wine and tell me what the hell is going on?” Sophie yells from the shower.
Though my day has felt like a scene from a horror movie, I can’t help but laugh as I grab her glass.No matter what shit comes my way, I know exactly what to expect from my best friend.
She snatches her glass from me with a sudsy hand, takes a sip, and hands it back. She leans her head out, her hair lathered with shampoo, and looks at me. “Start talking.”
I place both of our glasses on the counter and lean against it, summoning the words to start. “I’ve been sleeping with Frank.” That’s as good a place as any.
The water stops, and Sophie opens the fogged-over shower door, exposing her nude body as she stares me down. “Excuse me?”
I grab for a towel and toss it at her. “Geez, Soph, a little modesty wouldn’t be terrible.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from the woman who just legit gave me the shock of my life. You haven’t touched a man since—” She cuts herself off. We don’t ever speak his name.
I sigh. “I know. And I’m getting there.”
With a furrowed brow and her eyes still locked on me, she dries her body. “Well, get there quicker. You’re sleeping with Frank…is it serious?”
I throw my head back and laugh. “God, no. He’s…Frank.”
She wraps her towel around her torso and cocks a hip. “Right, hot younger guy with tattoos and a possessive alpha attitude. Sign me up.”
“Says the woman who married the firstdaddyshe met and has been singing the praises of older men since.”
“I’m an equal opportunist when it comes to hot men.” She shrugs. “Believe me, age doesn’t matter. Frank could be a daddy any day of the week. But I have a feeling that isnotthe point of this story.”
“Right. It’s not.” I pick up my wine and take a healthy gulp. The sound it makes when I set it down a little too aggressively echoes around us while I work up the nerve to keep going. “Jay walked in on Frank and me…well, ya know.”
